So It’s Like YouTube, But On Facebook?

Sort of.

Facebook Watch is a video-on-demand service. All US users have been able to access it since August 2017, but it only went global in August 2018.

The emphasis is on hosting original video content. This is produced for Facebook by partners. Here’s where the service starts to diverge from YouTube. Whereas anyone can sign up to YouTube and start producing videos, it looks like only agreed partners can make videos for Facebook Watch.

These partners earn 55% of advertising revenue, and Facebook keeps the other 45%. This revenue is generated via ad breaks either at the start of videos, or in the middle.

If you’re a Facebook user, you’ll get personalised recommendations for what to watch. There’s also categorised content bundles based on things like popularity and social media engagement. You can browse based on “Most Talked About”, “What’s Making People Laugh,” and “Shows Your Friends Are Watching.”

Who’s Making Videos for Facebook Watch?

There’s some big names involved! For example, brands like BuzzFeed, Vox and CNN are providing news. Beauty mogul Huda Kattan has a behind-the-scenes show. Jada Pinkett Smith has a chat show. There’s even been some live Major League Baseball games.

All of these things seem very American. But now that the service has been launched globally, expect to see more localised content soon.